A developer plans to build apartments on the site of a struggling mall in Chester County, one of several mixed-use redevelopment projects coming to aging commercial spaces in the Philadelphia suburbs.
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The Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust is under contract to sell the Exton Square Mall to Abrams Realty & Development, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported. The buyer plans to tear down part of the 990K SF shopping center for a multifamily development and add new uses to the retail section, an unnamed source told the outlet.
Exton Square, which is anchored by a Macy’s and a Boscov’s, was only 62% occupied as of last spring. West Whiteland Township’s town center zoning ordinance would allow developers to build restaurants, offices, hotels and gyms on the 72-acre property.
Abrams, which is based in Elkins Park, owns more than 3M SF of commercial space in 20 shopping centers across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to the company’s website.
Its portfolio already includes three nearby properties — the Whiteland Town Center in Exton, the Court at Malvern and the Eagle Pointe Village in Chester Springs.
Exton Square opened in 1973. The shopping center has always faced steep competition from Simon’s massive King of Prussia Mall, which is just a 20-minute drive away. Exton Square had the lowest occupancy of any PREIT property as of June 2023, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The years since the coronavirus pandemic have been chaotic for PREIT, which went through two sets of bankruptcy proceedings, but Exton Square still managed to court attention from developers.
Brandywine Realty Trust was under contract to buy the mall from PREIT in 2022, but the deal eventually fell through.
As many malls continue to struggle in the wake of the pandemic, Pennsylvania lawmakers have considered a law that would allow municipalities to enact a 10- to 15-year tax abatement for shopping centers that are redeveloped with new residential, commercial or industrial uses. It passed in the state House and was referred to the state Senate’s Community, Economic & Recreational Development Committee.
Several similar mixed-use redevelopment projects are already underway across the region.
Paramount Realty and Edgewood Properties purchased the 1M SF Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem this summer with plans to demolish up to half of it and redevelop parts of the property as mixed-use spaces.
News of the Exton Square sale came shortly after BET Investments spent $17M on the Conshohocken Ridge Corporate Center. They plan to redevelop the six-building office park with new apartments and retail.
Kushner Cos. in September borrowed $415M to demolish part of the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, New Jersey, with plans to build 1,000 apartments.
Developers are also celebrating the repurposing of Burlington Center, ROI-NJ reported. The South Jersey mall was once considered dead, but it has since been revitalized with new warehouse spaces — builders broke ground on 500 new multifamily units there in May.
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